in this issue � Principal’s Message

� Class of 1964 Reunion

� Alumni@Work

� In Short

� Vale

Postal address CHESS, PO Box 1101 Surrey Hills North LPO 3127

Have you changed your details?Please email us so we can update our database: chs.chessmoves@gmail.com

Births, Marriages, FarewellsChessmoves would like to hear from you if you have celebrated a birth, marriage or are aware of the passing of a former student. Contributions of up to 100 words are welcome, with photos if appropriate, to: chs.chessmoves@gmail.com

Sign up a new memberWe are very keen to increase our membership numbers so that CHESS represents ex-students from all decades. Please encourage other former students to join CHESS. A membership form can be downloaded from our website: http://chessmoves.com/membership

Like us on FacebookCHESS is on facebook www.facebook.com/Camberwell highexstudentssocietyinc.

www.chessmoves.com

C H E S S M O V E S

Celebrating learningRecently I had two memorable days. I attended the 50th reunion for the class of ’64 with Phil, my husband. The room at Box Hill Golf Club was full of excited chatting as 50 ex-students rekindled their friendships. Two days later I was in Hobart visiting our grandchildren’s school and enthusiastically applauding their achievements. It is wonderful to see your own off-spring embracing the joy of learning. In the afternoon I was back at Victoria University with my Careers Consultant hat on, talking to a mature age student who needs a part time job to continue her study. At 7.30 I attended the Valedictory Evening at Camberwell High School and watched with pride as our exiting Year 12s celebrated their achievements and said goodbye to their school. It was a privilege to present the CHESS awards to Vinnie Cesnik and Casey Groth. The Year 12s finished the evening singing our school song to the CD that CHESS produced and we all sounded magnificent!

The Principal, Jill Laughlin, wrote a letter of thanks that I would like to share with you:

Dear Yvonne and Members of CHESS

I would like to acknowledge and thank you sincerely for your donations of $3000 toward the Principal’s Fund and the donation of $750 for the Robert Ewins Memorial Prize. Your contribution will be used for the CHESS Scholarship Awards and the remainder will be used for the

benefit of needy students to assist them with support for their education at Camberwell High School. The Robert Ewins Memorial Prize will be presented to talented Year 10 and 11 English Literature students. Thank you for your ongoing support and advocacy for the school.

The annual $25 subscription for 2015 is due to be paid by 31 December 2014. Our ongoing membership and payment of the subscription is a tangible way to support CHESS and enable us to give back to our school with a sense of pride. In 2014 we had 203 financial members. We are working hard to grow our membership in 2015 and we look forward to your support. Thank you.

Yvonne Giltinan (McLaren) Class of 1965

November 2014

Thank you from Vinnie Cesnik I am very grateful to have won the 2014 CHESS award at the CHS Valedictory evening. I was the 2014 School Captain at Camberwell High and hope to pursue Commerce next year at university. It’s been a tough year at times to find a balance between my schooling and my role as captain but I’m very thankful that my efforts have been recognized. As to what I am planning on doing with the monetary reward I’m not entirely sure! Uni may require hefty outlays at times so I might save in preparation for that.

SRC Presidents, Sonya Repetti and Jayden Battey, receiving the 2014 CHESS cheque for the school

Casey Groth at the 2014 formal

Maisie signed up for five years’ honorary membership of CHESS and won a hard drive donated by Steve Callinan-Moore

Most of our ex-students from 2013 and 2014 have chosen to sign up as honorary members of CHESS as a result of the excellent work Ashley Wah (2013), Jayden Battey and Sonya Repetti (2014) have done promoting CHESS to their peers. We appreciate their efforts.

CHESS Board

School Captains Zoe Kartanos and Vinnie Cesnik (both CHESS awardees) with Jayden, Sonya and Jill Laughlin

Principal’s Message

Jill Laughlin, Principal

Each term of the school year has a particular character of its own.

Term 1 is about beginning a new year. Term 4 is significant as a time for finishing. Our year 12 students are finalising their education and their energies are directed towards finishing well after a long year of application. Over the last few weeks we have also had a number of events to mark the transition the Year 12 students are making from the school to their lives as adults. These events are carefully planned so as not to detract from completing final assessments. They have had permission to wear special tops during the last three weeks of term. It is a privilege given to them in recognition of the transition phase they have entered.

On the 20 October Year 12 students were part of a celebratory breakfast in front of the Senior Study Centre. The next day the whole school Student Valedictory Assembly was held to honour and farewell them. The Year 12 students then joined all the staff at a Valedictory luncheon, followed by the Valedictory Evening concluding with supper with their parents.

The Valedictory Evening is a very important event where we recognize the accomplishments of our Year 12 students with Awards, and Special Awards including the CHESS Awards presented by Yvonne Giltinan for two students who have contributed significantly to the life of the school. It was a very special day and a fitting way to send students off to prepare for exams. We are so fortunate to have our PFA provide lunch and supper on this special day.

As a school we wish them all well as they embark on the final stage of their secondary education. We hope that they take the opportunity to do the very best they can. And as a school community we support them in the best way possible. A message the Year 12 students consistently share at this stage of the year is that the years have flown by and doing well is not about one year: Year 12 is about the sum of all the preceding years. Whether students are in Year 12 or Year 7 they should aim to finish strongly.

It was a pleasure to attend the 1964 Reunion at Box Hill Golf Club on

Sunday 19 October. It is so heart-warming to see so many great products of Camberwell High. I was honoured to be able to share some of the aspects of life at CHS in 2014 and to hear from past students and teachers about their fond memories. I extended the invitation to past students to join a tour of the school on Tuesday mornings. Please book at the school office (9836 0555) as tours are popular and numbers limited.

Jill Laughlin, Principal

School Tours Camberwell High School offers prospective students,

parents, ex-students and community members the

opportunity to take a guided tour to see the school ‘in

action’ on a normal day.

School tours are conducted fortnightly and bookings are

essential. PH: 9836 0555.

CAREER ADVISORY NETWORK

CHESS is working to establish a Career Advisory Network where current students

are given the opportunity to talk with ex-students who are enjoying a variety

of careers. If you are keen to participate, please send your name, profession, email

address and phone number to Yvonne Giltinan: chs.chessmoves@gmail.com and your information will be forwarded to the

Assistant Principal.

On October 19 over 50 people gathered at the Box Hill Golf Club to celebrate fifty years since they had graduated from Camberwell High School. Although most people lived in Victoria, only a few still lived near the school and three people travelled from interstate with Ben Korman from WA coming the longest distance. Guests

were welcomed by former Head Prefects John Butler and Maree Elias (formerly Harper) and were brought up to date on what was happening at the school by current principal Jill Laughlin. There was a memorabilia table and a trivia quiz to keep people entertained as they spent their time catching up with classmates. A booklet of stories

with 45 contributions from former students about their lives since they left school was provided to the group. At the end of the day Yvonne Giltinan, President of CHESS, told the group about the benefits of being a member and accompanied the group in singing the School Song. A good day was had by all.

The ’64 prefects: John Butler, Helen Mackinlay (Calder), Miriam Zimmet (Sheppet), Brian Beaumont, Ken James, Maree Elias (Harper), Phil Giltinan and Margaret Spong (Firth)

Head prefects John and Marie with Don Gibb, Jill Laughlin and Don Hobill.

Class of ‘64 Reunion

Thinking about a Reunion in 2015?

CHESS has an extensive database that will enable you to start contacting people in your year group. Let us know your plans so we can assist you with advertising in CHESSMOVES

Contributing to Alumni@Work

If you would like to share about your career since your days at Camberwell High School, please forward your details to:

chs.chessmoves@gmail.com

Alumni@Work

Despina AnastasiouLast year Despina Anastasiou, alumni of Camberwell High School (1977–1982) and the daughter of Greek migrants, commenced her “dream job” as General and Country Manager for Dow Greece.

Despina is excited about this fabulous opportunity, both personally and professionally.

“I knew in 1990 when I completed my PhD in chemistry at Monash that I didn’t want to wear a lab coat forever. I wanted to branch out from research, yet still be linked to ground breaking technology, so two weeks after I submitted my thesis I joined the huge science-driven company Dow.

I started in the technical services division that handled Dow’s range of thermoset resins. After two years my role was expanded to the Asia-Pacific region. Work with Dow’s business analyst and our commercial teams led to more senior roles and this pattern has continued throughout my career.

My personal motto is to be the best that I can be, and every day is a new beginning and an opportunity to learn something new. I was privileged to have had some fabulous and inspiring teachers at Camberwell High School that set me on a tremendous path and I am committed to giving back and inspiring the next generation”.

Professor Barbara Evans (Fletcher) At Camberwell High School (1955–1960) I studied the basic sciences and remember fondly being School Captain and one of only two girls in our year 12 Chemistry class. At Melbourne University I first studied physical education before being drawn to the mysteries of biology, and went on to complete a PhD in Zoology. I joined the academic staff and revelled in the challenge of engaging huge classes of students in the excitement of biology. My research involved the study of many different animals, from earthworms and eels to ducks and platypuses, in order to determine how each ensured adequate provision of oxygen to their tissues under challenging conditions such as exercise or diving underwater. I am also the author and editor of three award-winning Biology textbooks for tertiary and senior secondary students, each now in their fifth editions.

In 1997 I became Dean of Graduate Studies and Pro Vice-Chancellor at Melbourne before moving to the University of British Columbia in Vancouver as Dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies from 2007–2011. During this period I was a leading international keynote speaker at many international conferences focused on graduate education and at the Advance Women’s Leadership Summit in Sydney 2011, I was named one of the top 50 current and emerging woman leaders in Australia.

Three things – a fundamental curiosity, being prepared to work really hard and to respond to opportunities as they arise – have underpinned my life. I am also an Olympian, representing Australia in Gymnastics at the Tokyo Olympic Games 1964 and the World Gymnastics Championships in Germany 1966. I learned from succeeding at sport that whatever you do – always do it 100%. It is a highly transferable strategy whether you are studying or teaching or being a Dean.

In Short

Alumni in the news Recently Professor Lyn Gilbert was appointed to oversee Australia’s response to the Ebola threat. Lyn is an Infectious Disease Expert, Director of Hospital Epidemiology and Infection Prevention and Control for the Western Sydney Local Health District, and Professor of University of Sydney. She was also appointed NSW’s Chief Health Officer. At CHS Lyn was known as Gwen (Gwendolyn) Stewart-Murray, and was the Dux of the School in 1959 in the Mathematics and Science Group.

The other Dux was Wendy Dabourne (Humanities Group). Rev Dr Wendy has been a minister and lecturer with the Uniting Church. Another notable 1959 Alumni is Professor Robert Shelton Thomas who after a stellar Surgical career at the Royal Melbourne and Western General Hospitals, is the Chief Advisor to Cancer Services Victoria.

Just three 1959 alumni still making a valuable contribution to society.

by John O’Hara Class of 1959

Dancing the night awayGraham Scott remembers“I recently saw that Jellis Craig Real Estate Agents has advertised the Masonic Hall in Rochester Road, Canterbury for sale. Many of us fondly recall the school socials we had there. God, that Pride of Erin

still stirs my blood! And the setting up and cleaning up after!

I remember the place itself, and the way we lined up gender wise along our respective walls. But I can’t remember the music. Who played? And does anyone have photos?”

Contact us at: chs.chessmoves@gmail.com if you can add to these memories.

In Short

Go Cobras! 2014 Update Last year Chessmoves had an article on the Canterbury

Football Club and the launch of its history book by ex-

student James Nicolas. At that time both the Senior

and Reserves teams were winless. In fact in 2013 both

teams did not win a game! This year things are very

different. Canterbury Football Club played finals for

the first time in almost a decade and just lost to West

Brunswick, finishing 3rd on the ladder.

The club is 133 years old and has played at the

same ground for over 100 years. Their jumper uses

the colours of the Belgium flag and was chosen to

commemorate the Anzac’s deeds in Flanders. In 2015

players will have worn the jumper for 100 years. The club currently has a number of Camberwell High ex-students in leadership positions: Marty Stals, Leigh Nelson, John Doak, Chris Barras and James Nicolas. Contact James on 0407511057 or email Cobrascfc@gmail.com to receive regular updates or to volunteer.

The first premiership team in 1920 was full of ex 1 AIF returned soldiers.

VALE

John TilmanisCHS Class of 1964

John Tilmanis opened his dental surgery at 142 Surrey Road in Blackburn over 30 years ago.

From the beginning, it was a special place. His philosophy toward his profession allowed patients to actually look forward to the experience!

John used his gifts of high energy, humour and outgoing spirit combined with a quick wit and truly gentle and attentive manner to relax those in his care.

The dental profession has lost a unique ambassador.

Ralph SkilbeckCHS 1941–1943

Ralph passed away in June 2014. As a student he was identified as a boy soprano with promise and became a founding member of the Australian Boys’ Choir.

Most of his working life was as a hospital administrator at various Melbourne hospitals, during which time he completed a degree in Hospital Administration.

In later years he became a Remedial Massage Therapist. Ralph lived in Balwyn for 60 years and raised five children there.

In 2013 he was delighted to become a part of the Living History Project with the current students at Camberwell High School after being involved with CHESS for many years.

Ronald Smith 1936 –2014

CHS 1948–1952

Ron had fond memories of Camberwell High School. These years cemented a lifelong love of cricket and tennis; a passion he later shared with the community by providing free tennis coaching for twenty five years to local children and adults. His schooling led to a very successful career. Ron used his architectural, town planning and landscape design skills to make substantial contributions towards community developments and lifestyle, particularly during his thirty years with A.V. Jennings. A kind, giving, sincere Christian, Ron passed away peacefully following a long struggle with Parkinson’s Disease.

Picture taken from a school tennis team photo. It was also his wish that a notice be placed in this newsletter after his death.

Renewal of Annual Subscription 2015 (membership is for a calendar year)

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